The present invention relates to cylindrical paper containers, to hand tools and methods for making cylindrical paper containers, and more particularly, it relates to the making of horticulture-type seedling pots.
In commercial silviculture operations, in greenhouses as well as in hobby gardening, plants are commonly germinated and grown to show a few leaves before they are transplanted in a real soil. Plants are generally started in seedling pots made of peat moss, pressed fibres, papier-{circumflex over (m)}achxc3xa9, or other biodegradable material such that the containers containing the seedlings are normally transplanted with the plant and let in the ground to disintegrate and to add to the fibre content of the soil about the root system of the plant.
Seedling pots are typically found in gardening supply stores, and are relatively expensive. Also, it is common that when comes the planting time, one has not purchased a sufficient quantity of pots for the amount of seeds that one ultimately wants to plant. The hand tool and method of the present invention are advantageous in that one can use newsprint, paper or other types of sheet material to readily and inexpensively manufacture seedling pots that meet the requirements of common plant species.
A number of paper containers have been developed in the past to germinate seeds. Examples of these containers are described in the following documents:
U.S. Pat. No. 404,585, issued on Jun. 4, 1889 to W. L. Wright;
U.S. Pat. No. 1,828,448, issued on Oct. 20, 1931 to G. M. Seidel;
U.S. Pat. No. 2,033,627, issued on Mar. 10, 1936 to C. E. Gardner;
U.S. Pat. No. 2,079,116, issued on May 4, 1937 to C. E. Gardner;
GB Patent 563,552, issued on Aug. 18, 1944 to E. A. Ingold.
Although the containers of the prior art deserve undeniable merits, it is believed that the prior inventions do not suggest any tool nor a method for easily forming cylindrical paper seedling pots by hand, without using adhesive or other fastener. As such, it will be appreciated that there continues to be a need for a simple hand tool and a method, which can be used by professional growers as well as by the hobby gardeners, for easily making seedling pots of various sizes and thicknesses, using paper material as common as newsprint.
The present invention provides for a hand tool and a method for manually making cylindrical paper containers that have overlapping and interlocking flaps, stiff rims, selective thicknesses and strong bottom structures. Furthermore, the containers according to the present invention retain their shape without tape, adhesive or other fastener.
Broadly, in a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a hand tool for forming cylindrical paper containers. This hand tool comprises a cylindrical body having a diameter, a closed end and an open end, and a handle mounted on the closed end. The hand tool also has a cavity extending inside the cylindrical body from the open end.
The hand tool according to this aspect of the present invention is particularly appreciable for use with sheet material for easily and quickly forming cylindrical containers. The sheet material can be wrapped around the cylindrical body and a portion of the sheet material near the open end of the cylindrical body can be twisted, tufted up and pushed inside the cavity for forming a cylindrical container having a closed and relatively flat bottom end.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a cylindrical container made of sheet material and comprising an open end, a bottom end, a rim circling the open end, a vertical dimension and a seam along the vertical dimension. The seam comprises an overlap in the sheet material. The bottom end comprises a twisted, tufted and flattened portion of the sheet material. The cylindrical container also has a fold around the rim, and this fold encloses the overlap crosswise for retaining the overlap and retaining the shape of the container. One of the advantageous features of this cylindrical container is that a sturdiness thereof is obtained without adhesive nor fastener.
In accordance with yet another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for manually forming a cylindrical paper container. This method comprises the steps of:
A) providing a hand tool comprising a cylindrical body having a length, a diameter, a closed end and an open end, a handle mounted to the closed end and a cavity extending inside the cylindrical body from the open end;
B) providing a rectangular sheet of paper having a height of about twice the length of the cylindrical body and a width of about one third more than a circumference of the cylindrical body;
C) forming a fold in the sheet of paper with a fold line extending across the width of the sheet;
D) cutting the fold along the height of the sheet in a third-region of the fold and unfolding a segment of the fold about the fold line;
E) placing the fold against the cylindrical body and aligning the fold line with the closed end of the cylindrical body;
F) wrapping the sheet of paper around the cylindrical body, with the width of the sheet of paper extending around the cylindrical body thereby forming a paper cylinder having an overlapped seam;
G) while holding the paper cylinder to the cylindrical body, twisting a portion of the sheet of paper extending beyond the cylindrical body and forming a tuft of paper with this portion;
H) pushing the tuft of paper inside the cavity in the cylindrical body, thereby defining a closed end to the paper cylinder;
I) pulling the hand tool from the paper cylinder, and
J) folding the segment of the fold about the fold line and over the overlapped seam to enclose the overlapped seam crosswise and to define an interlocking rim to that paper cylinder.
This method is advantageous for easily forming cylindrical paper containers by hand without adhesive nor fastener. The paper containers are formable with a simple tool and with readily available paper sheets. When the paper containers are used as seedling pots, the above method is particularly advantageous for fabricating the seedling pots as needed at the planting time, thereby partly eliminating inventories or conventional advance procurement of seedling supplies.
Still another feature of the invention is that the hand tool used to manufacture the seedling pots is susceptible of a low cost of manufacture with regard to materials and labour, and which accordingly is then susceptible of low price of sale to the industry, thereby making such hand tool economically available to the public.
Other advantages and novel features of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description.